Kit you regretted buying
- Thread starter James
- Start date
S-Man
StrivingON
I use some ancient Supra bluey grey coloured stuff which a friend gave me and despite tryng 10's of alternatives nothing is as good, except Chord reference @ £sillyprice and the Chord was maybe about 2% better.
Most regretted was a pair of Gale 401s whiich I lovingly restored. They sounded nowhere hear as good as a friend's pair in his system and I sold them for a loss (massive loss if I include my time).
My CA640P (and 840A, for that matter) went back to RS as well.
It's far too embarrasing to admit I swapped a pair of ES14s for aktive LInn Stinka's.
PMC FB1, the first version. Yuck. Only any use as a PA speaker
Plinius 8150 integrated, beyond boring despite the hype that surrounded it. I dunno what those guys from Stereophile are on...
Arcam Alpha 5 cd, dreary, put me off arcam spinners for life. Replaced it with a 2nd hand Naim CD3 and laughed my arse off
Plinius 8150 integrated, beyond boring despite the hype that surrounded it. I dunno what those guys from Stereophile are on...
Arcam Alpha 5 cd, dreary, put me off arcam spinners for life. Replaced it with a 2nd hand Naim CD3 and laughed my arse off
DSJR
Between us and them
Agree on the Supra when I was using Harbeth HL5's - too things added together...
The 8000DAC needed a year to fully sort itself out and so did the transport they did for it - Phil Swifts own sample sounded superb and I was very underwhelmed when we got the set on dem. A customer bought it and traded it in a year later for the DAX with new transport and it was excellent...
kuma
Duchess of The Hustle
James,
This is embarrassing but here goes:
• Primare 20A/20D ( bought them strictly based on reviews. )
• Wilson W/P 5.2 ( the most expensive **** up. I don't know what I was thinking or not thinking was more like it)
• Jeff Rowland Design Model 112 amp ( worked at the dealer. But didn't at home )
• Art Audio DM/VPS Balanced version ( love the single ended version but a balanced version was a total waste of money )
• Shunyata King Cobra PC ( a poor way to tone down treble distortions )
• Sansui SR313 Turntable ( at least it looks the part )
• Bel Canto Evo 6 (a premature Class D effort )
• Naim NAC 52. ( the jury is still out on this one. If it doesn't make it, it would be my first Naim kit that didn't make a cut )
• Many footers, cables, racks and CD *enhancement* widgets. ( all are bought blind so more misses than hits)
• WATTGATE 381 and PC Audio outlets ( what do you know. Electrical outlets make sonic difference. For worse, however. )
• Headamp Gilmore ( liked the original small version. Surely I thought that the beefier separate power supply would improve things. Not. )
• Custom valve headamp (a lovely door stop now )
• Channel Island DAC and PSU ( it was cheap )
Addendum:
Dynavector XX2 mk. II.
Musical Fidelity X-cans ( no amount of tube rolling helped this amp from a permanent coma )
This is embarrassing but here goes:
• Primare 20A/20D ( bought them strictly based on reviews. )
• Wilson W/P 5.2 ( the most expensive **** up. I don't know what I was thinking or not thinking was more like it)
• Jeff Rowland Design Model 112 amp ( worked at the dealer. But didn't at home )
• Art Audio DM/VPS Balanced version ( love the single ended version but a balanced version was a total waste of money )
• Shunyata King Cobra PC ( a poor way to tone down treble distortions )
• Sansui SR313 Turntable ( at least it looks the part )
• Bel Canto Evo 6 (a premature Class D effort )
• Naim NAC 52. ( the jury is still out on this one. If it doesn't make it, it would be my first Naim kit that didn't make a cut )
• Many footers, cables, racks and CD *enhancement* widgets. ( all are bought blind so more misses than hits)
• WATTGATE 381 and PC Audio outlets ( what do you know. Electrical outlets make sonic difference. For worse, however. )
• Headamp Gilmore ( liked the original small version. Surely I thought that the beefier separate power supply would improve things. Not. )
• Custom valve headamp (a lovely door stop now )
• Channel Island DAC and PSU ( it was cheap )
Addendum:
Dynavector XX2 mk. II.
Musical Fidelity X-cans ( no amount of tube rolling helped this amp from a permanent coma )
Tigerjones
Bagpuss
Neat Petite 3, what a god awful excuse for a speaker.
dave
Plywood King
kuma
Duchess of The Hustle
I could have probably sent a kid to a college.
Luckily, we don't have any. ( I am the kid )
kuma
Duchess of The Hustle
rabidlistener
pfm Member
Bought a Chinese DAC as a present to myself this Xmas and it did jack s**t to the sound. Burned it in for several days but did absolutly nothing on both my NAD 521 BEE and a friends MF CDP's. Luckily I managed to get my money back.
Mike
Mike
DSJR
Between us and them
After careful consideration, I'm going to add a pair of Wilson Benesch Act 1's... This pair had the early Tactic drivers and looked gorgeous, but the sound was monotonic - thin and sharp with a one note drone for bass - every recording sounded the same.
These early WB's really need a fruity LP source and huge slow class A power amps feeding them.
These early WB's really need a fruity LP source and huge slow class A power amps feeding them.
tomek
pfm Member
I think i can add few components:
1. Non os dac - you get what you pay for
2. Benchmark DAC1 - all those great reviews, but overdetailed lean sound. At the begining i was fascinated, but after few days irritated...
3. Gainclone - again all those reviews. I built it my self using best parts, buying special Black Gate caps (100GBP!), lost a LOT of time trying to get this gainclown to play music.
1. Non os dac - you get what you pay for
2. Benchmark DAC1 - all those great reviews, but overdetailed lean sound. At the begining i was fascinated, but after few days irritated...
3. Gainclone - again all those reviews. I built it my self using best parts, buying special Black Gate caps (100GBP!), lost a LOT of time trying to get this gainclown to play music.
BenS
pfm Member
I bought an 8Vs without listening to one from ebay. How could it not be good given the reviews? It was egregiously poor. Worse than the cheapo 10 year old Rotel amp I had in my studio system. Bloated incoherent sound and so much crosstalk that I could listen to the radio on the CD input!!! I borrowed one from a dealer to see if mine was faulty but nope- it's just a bad bit of kit.
Still, I sold it for £100 more than I paid for it 2 weeks later! And the bought a 72/140 for the same money. Much better.
Ben
James
Lord of the Erg\o/s
I had one of these in my youth ...
... so I didn't really know any better. The novelty was so overwhelming, I don't remember hearing anything musically memorable from it. I'm not sure if that constitutes a regretful purchase. Sadly, it didn't survive its emigration to the Antipodes. The AR EB-101 with Rega RB300 that replaced it was stunning in comparison.
James
... so I didn't really know any better. The novelty was so overwhelming, I don't remember hearing anything musically memorable from it. I'm not sure if that constitutes a regretful purchase. Sadly, it didn't survive its emigration to the Antipodes. The AR EB-101 with Rega RB300 that replaced it was stunning in comparison.
James